I'm a type 1 diabetic, have been climbing for a few years now and am on an insulin pump.
I'm hunting for other experienced diabetic climbers who multi-pitch and/or push themselves on multiple pitches in a day to ask for advice on insulin/blood sugar levels.

If you are aware of anyone who might be able to help, please send them my way.

Great to know I'm not alone - had a read through, and the info in these threads is good but not quite what I'm after.

To be more specific, I have just started climbing harder than I ever have and am running into the same problems I did with competitive swimming: Blood Glucose Levels spike with adrenaline (so anything pumpy, e.g. a sports route or scary trad or hard trad pitch), which makes me feel pretty sick, and to feel better I personally need to use insulin to reduce the hyper (otherwise its a few hours of feeling very average). Result: usually a hypo. To avoid this, I eat if I correct, but then am increasing my carbohydrate intake which I am currently watching like a hawk.

Then there are the down periods between pitches/climbs, when ideally I would do some active recovery but this seems to increase my chance of having a hypo shortly after.

So essentially, I am not after advice re: long days out/what to take to the crag/reducing insulin rates, but more how to handle the spikes efficiently. When I was swimming competitively I used to have to go on a pen for as-required short acting insulin. I feel like that's a whole heap of fuss while on a wall when I should be able to tweak the pump to manage this - any anecdotes/experiences/advice would be helpful!

On 22/12/2013 KatieK wrote:>>..... I used to have to go on a pen for as-required>short acting insulin. I feel like that's a whole heap of fuss while on>a wall when I should be able to tweak the pump to manage this....>
I think this is your answer.

Hi Katie,
I don't have type 1 diabetes, but I am a dietitian, and recently came across a brilliant article that might help you. It goes into the insulin amount and type, carbohydrate, exercise type, exercise duration and hormonal release during exercise, and how to calculate what insulin/carbohydrate is required and when. Unfortunately, it's on my work computer, and I'm on holidays until January 6th. I'll post a link to it when I get back to work.

Hey KatieK,
Great to see some other T1DM out there. I'm also a T1DM and doctor and avid adventurer and been climbing for a few years. I'm currently on the Animas Vibe pump and loving it.
I'm available 24/7 to chat, climb etc.
Nick

Re management of BGL it really depends what your setup currently is.
If your on the pump whet you can do is increase your basal by say 10% (110%) while climbing and reduce your basal by say 10% (90%)when you finish or slightly before and run this for an hour or two post climb. This might help to keep your climbing spikes down and keep your numbers up post exercise.

If your on the pen, things can get a bit more tricky due to that basal/bolus relationship. Rapid acting insulin such as novo rapid can help with the high bgl episodes and hopefully reduce post exercise hypo.

Nuts usually work well for me mixed with some soy crisps that I consume while belaying or just chilling before a pitch - everyone I climb with loves this as they get a quick feed too.

For active recovery there has been some recent research that suggests a quick high intensity exercise at the end of a session can reduce post exercise hypoglycaemia I.e. A 30second all out sprint or I assume a high speed high intensity sport climb would do similar things.

Obviously this is pretty general advice and you should touch base with your endo or nurse educator if you don't feel confident playing with your doses.

Hi Katie,
Sorry about delay in getting back to you - had a detour past Geelong Hospital for a few weeks rather than a return to work. The information re diabetes and exercise is actually a powerpoint presentation, so I don't have a web link. If you PM me, I'll send you the file. I can't see any way of uploading a file to chockstone!
Cheers
Fiona